The modulation, in particular the inhibition of the activity of proteins is of central significance in various fields of science, medicine, and technology.
In the cell and tissue preservation it is important for a permanent storage of respective preparations to completely inactivate the activity of such proteins which exert functional or catalytic functions in order to prevent the tissue degradation. At the same time, structure proteins need to remain intact to preserve the integrity and the shape of the biological material. Also in the field of the preservation of pharmaceutical preparations or food or animal feed products, the inhibition of functional or non-structure proteins is significant for a lasting durability.
The inactivation of functional proteins also plays a central role in the field of technical fermentation and bioprocess engineering, the life and agricultural sciences and in medical applications, for example in connection with the inactivation of toxines, hormones, and inflammation mediators.
In the state of the art for the modulation or inhibition of the activity of non-structure proteins, in particular of enzymes, use is made of aldehyde such as the formaldehyde, or detergents with demonstrated denaturating effect on proteins such as the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), or other ionic tensides with a chain length of C12. However, aldehydes have a high acute toxicity. They are deemed to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, and strongly sensitizing. For this reasons, in recent times aldehydes have again been the subject of criticism. Furthermore, aldehydes do not only have a strong effect on proteins with enzymatic activity but also on structure proteins by changing their structure via crosslinking. SDS and ionic surfactants with a chain length of C12 tend to precipitate and therefore to loose their activity in an environment of an increased electrolyte concentration, in particular in connection with metal ions such as Ca++, Mg++ or K. For this reason, they are inappropriate for a use in complex biological systems. The strongly denaturating acting detergents are also said to be highly sensitizing and therefore hazardous to health. Detergents which are not strongly denaturating, such as fatty alcohols like Triton X100, are not appropriate for the inactivation of functional proteins and just for this reason they are used for protein solubilization.